Scientist Adrian Gibbs, a co-creator of the flu drug Tamiflu,
is preparing to present data to the WHO, regarding what he feels
is the “human error” based origin of the current swine flu
outbreak. For a couple days last week, I was marveling, in a bad way, over
the differential properties this virus contains. It just doesn’t
seem that spontaneous. It has the appearance of a designer
disease.

Was someone playing around in a lab and got it very wrong.
The question is, who rebooted this flu. The week before last, I said to my mom, I wonder if the
terrorists did something or if it was the government. Don’t look
at me like that – the latter experiments all the time and
sometimes they get it very wrong, other times vials go missing
or contaminants depart the lab via human contact. Then you have your pharmaceutical giants…

Regardless of what the forthcoming report states, I stand by my
view, as this flu had unusual properties attributed to it, like
it has a mind of its own.

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- The World
Health Organization is investigating a claim by an Australian
researcher that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have
been created as a result of human error.

Adrian Gibbs, 75, who collaborated
on research that led to the development of Roche Holding AG’s
Tamiflu drug, said in an interview that he intends to publish a
report suggesting the new strain may have accidentally evolved
in eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drugmakers use to
make vaccines. Gibbs said he came to his conclusion as part of
an effort to trace the virus’s origins by analyzing its genetic
blueprint.

“One of the simplest explanations
is that it’s a laboratory escape,” Gibbs said in an interview
with Bloomberg Television today. “But there are lots of others.”

The World Health Organization
received the study last weekend and is reviewing it, Keiji
Fukuda, the agency’s assistant director-general of health
security and environment, said in an interview May 11. Gibbs,
who has studied germ evolution for four decades, is one of the
first scientists to analyze the genetic makeup of the virus that
was identified three weeks ago in Mexico and threatens to touch
off the first flu pandemic since 1968.

A virus that resulted from lab
experimentation or vaccine production may indicate a greater
need for security, Fukuda said. By pinpointing the source of the
virus, scientists also may better understand the microbe’s
potential for spreading and causing illness, Gibbs said.